Providian Mess

Hello Everybody!

What a wealth of information this board is. A few weeks ago I was referred to this board/site from another newsgroup I read... what an invaluable source. My name is Nicole, hello all!

I have read the messages here faithfully for a few weeks now and hope to begin my journey of credit repair with the same successes I have read.

I am having a *major* problem with my Providian Financial Visa and am hoping somebody can perhaps provide me with a suggestion.

Background:

On 02/20 I called and made a phone payment to Providian Visa for the amount of 1315.00 (the balance in full). This payment was made in the morning so it would qualify to post for that business day. Please note I have been a customer of Providian since 1998 with a decent history, only one 30 day late in my relationship with them.

The following day I checked my account online to make sure the payment had posted properly (this was 02/21). The balance showed 0 however the available credit was also 0. This seemed strange so I called Providian to find out why I had no available credit when the balance had been paid in full. The rep informed me due to the large nature of the payment they were going to hold the payment for THIRTY days. This simply made no sense to me so I asked to speak to a supervisor. I did speak to a supervisor and she made an attempt to get this pushed through however was unable to. I explained to her that I needed those available funds (there was a death in my family and I needed to purchase air tickets, this was in fact the truth). She told me that there was nothing she could do.

At that point I called my credit union and put a "stop payment" on the check. I then called Providian back and told them I had put a stop payment on the check and would be mailing them a small payment to cover the min. amount due. They noted that to the account. They did ask me why I issued a stop payment and I explained the situation and told them I had allocated thus funds to another credit card I had, one that was interested in my business.

In March I mailed in a payment (a bit more than the min. payment due) and it was credited no problem to the account.

In April I planned to make a payment online however was unable to. I called Providian and the rep explained to me that since I submited a NSF check in 02-2003 my online account privelages were suspended and my only options for paying on the account were a check by phone (with a 14.00 fee) or a money order via the mail. I explained to the rep I never did submit a NSF payment, I had put a stop payment on the check and again explained the reasons why. He said it didnt matter... a stop payment was the same as an NSF in Providian's opinion.

That very same day I mailed a letter to Providian explaining my stop payment action vs a NSF. In this letter I included a copy of my statement from the credit union showing a "stop payment fee", it also clearly showed on my credit union statement the funds WERE available had I authorized them. I also requested they remove the "nsf" line from any reporting they had done either internally (in my account history) or externally (credit reporting agencies).

Today I received a response and I could just scream. Providian says they will not alter my record interally or externally. The NSF line will remain. They did offer an address to write to them if I still believe this is incorrect.

I am not sure what to do next. I understand submitting a NSF is very serious however I did nothing of the sort. I issued a "stop payment".

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks so much!

 

Thanks for your suggestions! I appreciate you passing along the number for the Exec. Office. I will try and call today to see what can be done. In my initial letter to them (mentioned in my first post) I was in no way nasty or negative, I just stated facts.

The balance at this time is 1000.00 and I do have the funds to pay it in full (then I planned to close it for good, I *loathe* Providian and refuse to pay a yearly fee for their card) however I was unsure if I paid it in full and closed it this mess would be even harder to fix.

I will report back!

 

Update! (I guess you can only edit posts 15 min. after they have been sent, sorry to clog the board). I called the Exec. Office of Customer Affairs and was only able to leave a voice mail. They requested to leave a voice mail you state your name/phone number/acct. name and a detailed message. The recording said they would get back to me "as soon as possible". They did offer a fax number. If I dont hear back from them by tomorrow at this time I suppose my next course of action would be to fax them my initial letter with my credit union statement, the response I received from Providian on 05/08 in addition to another letter kindly asking them to investigate and correct this.

I plan to include in my letter (or conversation) it is quite insulting to me that they assumed I was suggesting they change my report to reflect something that was untrue. I am simply asking them to report the truth (returned check - stop payment issued by consumer). While I understand that wont look great it certainly has to be better than a NSF. In my 11 years of having a checking account I have "bounced" one check in 1995 purely on error. Why on Earth would I bounce a check for well over 1000.00 now. Upsetting! When I did have that error in 1995 I literally RAN to the grocery store (where I wrote the check) and spoke to the manager ASAP and paid him cash at once, it was never reported to any credit bureau or chexsystems. I would hate to think this situation could have such dire effects.

Providian left me with no choice really.. I simply needed access to those funds. There should have been no reason to hold a payment that large for 30 days. My Jan. bill was 1100.00, paid in full and cleared the next day. My Dec. bill was nearly 1000.00 paid in full, cleared the next day. Nov. bill was nearly 800.00 paid in full and cleared the next day. Providian stated that any payment over 1000.00 is held. If that is the case then my Dec/Jan payments should have been held and they were not. Seems they pick and choose when to enforce the policy and that to me is the epitome of poor customer relations.

I do have a Citibank Plat. card with a 5K limit. Think I will make that my main card from now on. At the time I had this card tied up with some business expenses or else I certainly would have just charged the airfare on that.

Eyesores. This is taking way too much of my time for their error.

Thanks for the forum to air this frustration!

 

I am very glad I returned to this thread before proceeding! Providian has not called back and I think I will put my answering maching on until I can call them tomorrow as I need some info to be armed with.

I should be clear, the credited the account the next day however the funds would not be available for my use for 30 days so I suppose technically they were not "holding" anything. The avail. credit was 0 however my balance was 0 also... HOWEVER, as per my online acct. statement is says as follows:

Payment on 02/20
NSF fee on 02/20 of 35.00
Returned check fee on 02/20 of 35.00

I was charged 70.00 worth of fees!

No matter what the case may be, it would take more than one day for the payments to come back returned (either via nsf or stop payment, I know for a fact Providian does not have auto debit, they issue a paper check to your bank for payment)

Do you have a resource I could read that would explain to me the nsf vs. stop payment laws of check writing? I have searched this forum and cant seem to find the document you are referring too.

I want to be prepared for this phone call as I am the unfortunate type who laughs hysterically when they are nervous. I want my 70.00 back and all this other untrue info off.

Sorry to keep droning on about this but it is my first attempt at getting something removed and I dont want to make any grave errors.

 

An update... well, if you can call it that.

I left a message at the Exec. Office on Thursday afternoon. On Friday evening I got a call back from Shania Bowen however she only left a message on my machine, by the time I got it they were gone for the weekend. I was a bit peeved the number she left was a toll call and not a 800 number. I called her back on Monday morning and was only able to leave her a message. On Monday evening she called me at 8pm. When she called my husband and I were meeting with our management company regarding some major damage that happend in our kitchen over the weekend (we rent, the unit next to us had some major water damage in our shared wall that caused 4 of our cabinents to separate from the wall, HUGE MESS). Anyhow, I told her that I was in the middle of a meeting reviewing some damage in our home and I was unable to take the call.

<deep breathe>

She told me if I was unwilling to go over the details of the account with her then in her mind this issue was closed off and she would be sending a letter stating such. I told her I was more than willing to go over the details of the account however I was in the middle of getting an estimate for the kitchen, I had four cabinents crash to the floor over the weekend and a wall on its way to coming down. I asked her if I could schedule a phone call for first thing this morning and she said there was no reason to schedule a phone call when she was calling me now. She once again informed she would be sending my close off letter, thanked me and hung up. I was furious!

I called her this morning (Tuesday) and she was unavail. I called the Ex. Office again and left a very firm message stating my displeasure and I do expect a return phone call today, this issue was hardly rectified or "closed off" and I am very displeased with this level of service.


I am stunned and beyond frustrated. I am self employed and if I treated clients (current or potential) in this matter I would not have any clients.

Just venting.

Good day all

 

HAPPY DANCE!

Yay, I did it, my first ever accomplishment on getting a reversal from a cc company. A ton of thanks for all the information presented to me on this thread, it was an enormous help.

:::assing out virtual margaritas:::::::::

The same person called me back today that I spoke to last night. She was not terribly pleasant but that didnt stop me. End of story I got all the charges credited back to my account (70.00), I got the NSF line removed, I got the "block" on my account removed - both to use the card and make online payments.

She stated that no external reporting had been done stating a NSF payment was present, Providian only reports payment info (amount, on time.. that sort of thing). I told her a rep had told me differently and then told her I wanted the above statement in writing (she complied). She also added in bold letters to my "acct. notes" that the return paymnt was a stop payment NOT a NSF... she claims their system cant tell the difference however I said if that is the case then it is false. If you are going to claim a NSF be prepared to present me with the returned check, she said they didnt have one. LOL, no shit! I told her a NSF was defined as writing a check against a closed account or an account w/o enough money to cover the check... she said Providian didnt care, a returned check was a returned check. I told her I had all day and until some info was placed in my account I wasnt going to hang up. She put me on hold for 18 min (yes, I timed it) came back and told me what they were going to do (fee reversal, note updates, acct unblocked).

I was a freakin' wreck but managed not to laugh like a hyenia during the call. I swear I could hardly breath.

OMG, thanks so much for all your info, it was an enormous help.

She explained to me some of Providian's systems and what a damn joke that place is. For example, she told me that payments are randomly selected for security hold... so I could submit a 25.00 dollar payment that will not post until the funds will clear (well, it will post but not be avail) however a 1000.00 would post and be avail. ASAP. Huh? Why take the time and resource to investigate a 25.00 paymnt when the consumer has no history of problems.

I still loathe Providian but feel a bit of validation. I decided not to press my luck and ask about getting the 30 day late removed so I will try that via the mail now that I have a "friend" in the Exec. Office, LOL.
Nicole